TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    KVM

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AKernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a virtualization solution developed by small Israeli software company Qumranet and supported by Red Hat since that company's acquisition in 2008.N/A

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ARed Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux distribution mainly used in commercial data centers.N/A
    Pricing
    KVMRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    KVMRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    KVMRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Considered Both Products
    Red Hat
    No answer on this topic
    Red Hat
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    295 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    253 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    289 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    188 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    253 Answers
    Features
    KVMRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Feature
    Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
    9.2
    6 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    -
    Ratings
    Virtual machine automated provisioning7.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management console10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration10.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Operating System
    Comparison of Operating System features of Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Feature
    Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
    -
    Ratings
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    8.4
    78 Ratings
    4% below category average
    File Management00 Ratings8.073 Ratings
    Software Application Management00 Ratings8.075 Ratings
    System Update Frequency00 Ratings8.276 Ratings
    Operating System Security00 Ratings9.378 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    KVMRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Small Businesses
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    CentOS Linux
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    IBM AIX
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Ubuntu
    Score8.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    KVMRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    8.8
    (302 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.5
    (194 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (9 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    KVMRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Red Hat
    KVM is the best solution in the case you need to test and turn up any virtual environment with limited vCPU/RAM resources. The obvious area of its use is a network environment when we want to avoid being tied to one type of hardware/vendor and being able to swap from one instance to another with no downtimes. The use of a vSwitch (that supports VLAN tagging) is a significant bonus for network engineers that some other hypervisors do not provide.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    There's a lot of things that can and can't be discussed. But as I mentioned earlier, cloud computing and on-prem, and very much like in the cloud, having a standard image ISO, deploying that, the configurations with Ansible or packages installed via Ansible, instead of just a Kickstart script, you have a set of scripts that run in a pipeline that deploy Red Hat. So I'd say the environments, every time I've used Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a computing solution has been, like I mentioned, reusable, scalable, positive. And I don't think I've ever found any situations where I wish I were using something other than Red Hat Enterprise Linux, because the support is not there for anything else as much as it is for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Red Hat
    • KVM is really good at providing fast and reliable virtualization for Linux guests
    • Since KVM is a kernel module, every VM is a Linux process which can be managed by Linux system tools
    • KVM integrates very well with the management framework libvirt, which is why KVM can be integrated in automation tools as well
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    • Virtualization, like the operating system level task. I see this product is very good and it blends very well with the middleware components like all the JBoss and other things. And other than that, either you install it or a virtual machine or physical servers, it works seamlessly anywhere. And if you want to go further, like Red Hat OpenShift or those things also work very nice with it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Red Hat
    • KVM itself doesn't ship with a management interface
    • KVM itself is a bit complicated to handle
    • KVM needs Qemu to virtualize Windows guests
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) needs better built-in developer-centric tooling.
    • The desktop experience is too barebones, which makes it less attractive for developer workstations.
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) needs to be integrated and available in GItHub Actions as a supported platform so code developed on GitHub can be tested and qualified there.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    We find RHEL to be a superior OS with stable operations and long life. It is also easier to use and fix then most other OS's.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Red Hat
    It does the job and stays out of the way. The specifics of usability relies on the implementation, but with things like Icarus and libvirt, things are standardizing nicely.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    It's pretty intuitive and easy to use. Everything is adjustable; everything is customizable through a set of yaml's and everything can be undone and re-done. Doing items such a modification and restarting the single app doesnt take down the whole operating system like one of the more popular GUI based operating systems. We can work on live production systems without breaking into a sweat.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    Product support and regular patches.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    As with any OS enhanced testing will need to be done prior to application integration.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    Red Hat support has really come a long way in the last 10 years, The general support is great, and the specialized product support teams are extremely knowledgeable about their specific products. Response time is good and you never need to escalate.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    Don't be afraid of it, its easy to install and configure for the tasks needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Red Hat
    It is a very reliable solution that can be used for x86 architecture virtualization with low overhead. It is a free and open source software. Easy to use withOpenStack.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    Windows Server can take a long time to patch, waiting for the patch to install, then waiting to apply, after the OS is rebooted it can also take additional time to apply the update. Often times Windows Server patches can fail, leading to long troubleshooting times and application outages. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Patching is extremely quick, I've honestly not seen a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) update fail to install in many years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) patching.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    Operational ease of use backed by support
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Red Hat
    • Fast provisioning of new servers.
    • Huge drop of the cost of servers compared to bare metal.
    • Easy upgrades of resources, sometimes now even requiring a server restart.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    • It has done wonders for my career because I come from a Linux background, HPUX, Solaris and AIX. So made this transition to Linux 20 years ago. So it has really put my career at the forefront of what we do in the company. We're still primarily a window shop, but with Red Hat and what they're doing with the Kubernetes integration with OpenShift, with the East Satellite Management, the Ansible stuff, all based on Red Hat. It's taken off at my company and we're very happy about it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots